Bus

New Flyer awarded D.C. Metro hybrid bus contract

New Flyer Industries Inc. announced Tuesday that the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (Metro) awarded the company an order to build 95 heavy-duty 40-foot hybrid diesel-electric powered buses.

The order for 95 Xcelsior XDE40 buses is a conversion of options under the existing contract with Metro and follows upon the delivery of 152 Xcelsior buses during 2011. These reliable, modern and fuel efficient vehicles are supported by New Flyer warranty, service and lifetime customer care, according to the company.

"We are proud to be a partner that Metro can continually rely on," said Paul Soubry, New Flyer's president/CEO. "This order builds on Metro's successful experience with approximately 900 New Flyer buses currently operating in their fleet".

These 40-foot Xcelsior buses will begin production immediately and will be manufactured at New Flyer's Winnipeg, Canada and Crookston, Minn. facilities over the next seven months, with all buses expected to be delivered before February, 2013. Once delivered, approximately 64% of the Metro bus fleet will have been built by New Flyer.

This award was part of the group of orders for 483 new buses (613 EUs) and options for 40 buses (60 EUs) noted in the New Flyer press release of July 16, 2012 as pending from a number of customers where approval had been granted by the customer's board, council, or commission, as applicable, but purchase documentation had not yet been received by the company and therefore not yet included in the backlog.

The pilots will include a combination of dedicated bus-only lanes that take bus riders out of car congestion, technology to time traffic signals so that buses get more green lights, and platforms that allow riders to “level-board” the bus quickly as they would a subway.

The MetroHealth Line was developed as part of a naming rights agreement between RTA and The MetroHealth System, executed earlier this year, to rebrand the No. 51 family of routes. Those routes have the second highest bus ridership after the HealthLine.